Coming with the economic prosperity after the end of World War 1, came a new facet of the American economy. Factories and the economy in general increased production greatly. New inventions and machines coupled with new production methods such as Henry Ford's assembly line, created a surplus of production. New lightly tapped cheap oil fields provided the fuel for these factories. The car can be seen as the greatest example of this production. Henry Ford's factory in 1920's produced an automobile every 10 seconds. This huge rate of production led to a surplus of goods. For the first time in American history, many companies needed to find new markets and had to find new ways to sell their surplus goods.
The answer to the surplus goods was a new way to increase spending on a particular item. A new type of American commerce came into use called advertising. Advertisers seek to convince people to buy their products, through the process of association or suggestion. This new age of advertising was a microsm of the roaring 20's. The average American could afford more things as the economy took a turn for the better. Families could afford cars, they could go to movies, and they were all effected by advertising. Bruce Barton, a founder of advertising, claimed in his book The Man Nobody Knows that ¨Jesus Christ was the greatest adman of all time. Every advertising man ought to study the parables of Jesus. They are marvelously condensed, as good avertising should be¨. This new era of spending and advertising embodied the roaring twenties. A time of prosperity for most had arrived, and Americans could finally buy more things. Advertising today is one of the most important parts of consumer economics today.
I think it is interesting how religion was being considered a commercialized idea. Sure they were not commercializing the church itself similar to a car, but they were drawing comparisons. Advertising took leaps and bounds during this time and it is interesting to see where we started compared to when we spent 180 billion dollars last year on advertising alone. The advertising industry has evolved alongside American history, but it is very clear that there were massive new concepts evolving in the 1920's concerning advertising.
ReplyDeleteThe 1920's was definitely a great time to just buy buy buy. Advertising took a great liking, for people were enticed by it and essentially more likely to buy consumer goods, which was good for the economy. Although advertising helped the economy out quite a but, do you think there is a possibility that advertisement could have led to the great depression?
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